Oh Happy Days
by thatfairyprincesss
Summary: A story full of happy fluff, funny fluff, and a little bit of drama. Take's place two years after the events of the avengers. Tony/Pepper, Clint/Natasha. Domestic!Avengers.
1. Chapter 1

Two years passed since the defeat of Loki and the Chitauri. The team had went their separate ways, Clint and Natasha headed off to a fantastic resort somewhere for relaxation, Bruce took off back to Indonesia to help those in need over there, he preferred wondering around even though he doesn't have to anymore, Tony stomped onto General Ross's parade and ended it with a restraining order against him along with getting him thrown in prison for causing Bruce to end up the way he was in the first place with the gamma radiation.

Though he felt like he was stalking by now, he didn't feel right sitting back and watching his friend run from country to country to get away from General Ross or the military in general. He collected enough data that he could about Bruce's life so that he wouldn't have to keep running for the rest of his life. Now that everything was settled, Bruce could just kick back and...kind of …relax while doing what he does best: Helping.

* * *

December 25 finally came along, the avengers had been called before hand around a month ago to give them plenty of time to show up for December. Tony did this because he knew that as soon as everyone gathered together for Christmas they'd wanna stick around for as long as they can for New Years Eve, all part of his master plan.

Eventually the team were able to gather together in the middle of what was now called the Avengers Tower. Tony Changed the name from Stark Tower to Avengers Tower. When Loki damaged his building, all the letters were removed except for the letter "A", the letter was just asking for it…what better name than to use the name of his team?

"Alright everybody," Tony stood up and tapped the side of his glass to get everyone's attention at the long table that they were sharing Christmas dinner on. "Can I have your attention please. I would like to make an announcement for my lovely girlfriend!"

Pepper groaned, burying her head in her hands. "Oh god, Tony," She whined.

Everyone stopped their chattering and turned their attention to Tony, whom pulled his girlfriend up from the table, she kept shaking her head and murmuring "no don't" but no matter what she said she couldn't coax him into not embarrassing her in front of all these people at the rather huge dinner table.

Everyone was there, EVERYONE: Agent Hill, Bruce, Clint, Natasha, Thor, Steve, and yes, even the usual introverted Nick Fury was there. Phil Coulson would have been there as well, but he was…well...he died in the middle of the battle with the alien invasion, but he was there in spirit. He just couldn't be seen. A couple of Pepper's friends were also there at the table, it was a rather long dinner table, full of Christmas dinner on top of it.

When it finally quieted down, Tony cleared his throat. "I have been with this woman for many years, I love her to pieces like I love those Reese's pieces, she tolerates me when I am on my worst days and even when I am on my best annoying days. You guys all know how when I'm hyper active and talk to much and don't shut up kinda like how I'm doing right now, and throwing random jokes here and there, and sometimes being an asshole with insults..? Sound familiar?"

There was a chorus of "yeahs" and "oh please" from Natasha, she rolled her eyes. There was a snort from Clint and a chuckle from Steve.

"Even though I am like that some times-" Tony was interrupted:

"ALL OF THE TIME," Clint shouted, earning him a smack on the back of his head by Natasha. "ow!"

"Thanks Tash." Tony winked at her, Natasha didn't say anything, but the smile was enough for him. She was also sometimes quiet, but when she spoke she was blunt, sometimes she seemed like she didn't care but she really did. She was a nice girl deep down who only bite people when provoked.

The other people laughed at the table as Tony continued his speaking. "Right, " He moved his hands in a fluid motion, as if waves on the open sea, "Anyway, what I was going to say was that despite all the bullshit I put her and other people threw, I mean GODSAKES I almost fucking killed myself that day, she is still by my side. She is loyal through and through. She's the shining star of my life, and if she burns out, I burn out. So I will ask her one question. Right here, right now, in front of all of you. If she backs down now that'd make her a coward."

Pepper gawked at him at the end of his little "speech", her jaw dropped, and if it was a cartoon comedy, it probably would've dropped all the way to the floor. She blinked at him, once, twice, rubbed her eyes a few times to make sure she wasn't dreaming. She felt her cheeks turning pink, was it suddenly growing hot in here or was it just her? When Tony knelt down on one knee and pulled out a box, Pepper squealed and jumped up and down. She wasn't sure what to do or say, so she shrieked in excitement. Everyone at the table egged it on with 'whoops' and 'yays' and cheers in general for the two love birds up front.

"Miss Beautiful Pepper Potts," Tony asked pulling the box lid back, revealing the ring. He bit his tongue to keep himself from laughing at Pepper's reaction. She was acting like she just won a million dollars. Then again, he is a billionaire, but he knew the relationship was more than that, and he was happy that he could make her this happy. "Will you marry me?"

"YES YESYEYEYEYEEYEYEYEEYEYEYS!" Pepper jumped down onto Tony who was on the floor, he was a little startled by her sudden throw on him, she began to kiss him on the cheek. "Oh man, what took you so long you goof?!"

"Planning" Tony gave a side ways glance.

"Everything with you is planning, isn't it?" Pepper asked, giving him a peck on the lips.

Tony returned it in full, "Of course." He said in between kisses, "I'm not a genius for nothing."

The people at the table stood up and cheered, clapping their hands, some of their unfinished meals were forgotten about as they congratulated the couple.

After dinner, everyone was full, they sat down on the floor and passed Christmas presents to each other.

The run down:

Clint gave Natasha a pair of black and red lingerie, he also gave her some new polish for her weapons sense she loved to spend time on polishing them. He got them from an equipment store/sports store and he figured that she would love to get some more even if it's the cheap kind (she has expensive tastes).

Bruce was given a collection of books from Tony, a science calculator (Tony thinks the one he uses right now is outdated), and a pair of green pjs as a "inside joke" for the hulk. When they caught onto it, they laughed a little, Bruce shrunk back a little, nodding his thanks. Steve was given a photo of Peggy. It was an emotional outburst of happiness, he shouted who did this for him, when everybody else went silent, the little innocent whistle from Tony was all that Steve needed to get up and give him the world's largest hug.

"Okay-oKAY!" Tony gagged, "I need to breath big guy, but your welcome." He was trying to figure out who's crush hug was worse when extremely happy: Steve's or Thor's.

Agent Hill was given a brief case and some kind of organizing shelf for her office, Nick was given a pocket watch. Tony didn't get them very much cus he was running out of ideas for what to get those kind of people who didn't like accepting more than one item even if a birthday present (Steve, Agent Hill, and Nick..though he didn't care either way if he got anything or not, just the thought alone was enough for him).

Pictures were taken, laughter was shared and so were Christmas carols though Nick absolutely refused to sing. They didn't want to hear him anyway, he had a bad singing voice that would kill puppies, kitties, and children. He stood near them, however, but kept his head high with them, hands behind his back, for once with a smile on his face. He usually had a scowl.

When Nick wasn't looking , Clint snuck in a picture of him from behind to startle him, he tapped him on the back to get his attention, when Nick turned around with a surprised expression on his face he took another one, running off before Clint could get a bash on the side of his head again.

"BARTON!" Nick yelled with rage: "IF YOU SHOW THAT PICTURE TO ANYONE OR PUT IT UP ANYWHERE I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"FACEBOOK~" Clint called back, but he was lying, he wouldn't do that to Nick who liked things to be kept personal. He just wanted to catch him off guard with expressions for once, sense he always had either a frown or anger on his face.

Everyone laughed. Well. Except Nick, whom was still fuming.

* * *

Later on that night the gang settled down with "The Christmas Story" movie, eating some popcorn and drinking egg nog. Clint avoided sitting anywhere near Nick after his little stunt earlier, he kept sending him death glares, he sat on Natasha's lap for comfort and whimpered in ..maybe fear? Who knew what it was, either way Natasha didn't mind a good cuddle every now and then. Natasha and Clint were sitting together on a bean bag seat, away from where Nick was at, which was on the right side of the long ended couch.

Tony was next to Pepper, who had her head down onto his chest near the arc reactor, lazily tracing a finger around it more than paying attention to the movie.

He kissed her on the head a few times before bringing his attention back to the movie. The others around them had a sneaking suspicion that the lovebirds weren't even interested in watching a movie. Thor was on the right side of the couch sitting next to Steve, who was on Thor's right. The couch was facing north towards the wall that the movie was being projected on.

When the movie finally ended and the credits started to roll, the group got up. Agent Hill and Nick originally wanted to go him but considering how late it was, they decided to just stick around anyway, too tired to drive all the way back home.

"Good night everybody!" Pepper said cheerfully.

"Good night!" They replied.


	2. Chapter 2

**.2013.**

* * *

Tony was nervous. OH boy was he nervous. He was a little confused as to why he was nervous anyway, when he was the one who asked Pepper to marry him in the beginning. He usually had a lot of confidence with everything, never doubted nor feared. Whatever it is, it was causing him to have the jitters. Was it because he was about to get married in a church somewhere in the city in front of a thousand/million something people? It couldn't be that, he loved publicity. Ugh.

"Oh god oh god oh god" He kept muttering to himself, "I'm nervous. I'm nervous. Am I nervous? I'm nervous arent' I? Why am I nervous?"

Clint snorted, and Steve shook his head with laughter, while Thor tried to give him words of comfort. "Being nervous to one's wedding is normal, Man of Iron."

"Yeah, no big deal dude," Clint slapped him on the shoulder. "Besides there's almost like half of new york out there waiting to see this, who _wouldn't_ be nervous?" The archer exclaimed. It seemed like everyone there were the only ones excited. Tony could only show anxiety.

"I know that, doofus" Tony grunted. "It's not that, I don't think…I don't know what it is! Starks don't get nervous! And I'm nervous, to my own wedding, dammit!"

"Tony," Steve grabbed Tony by the shoulders and pulled him aside from the others who were helping him dress up. "Relax, take a few deep breaths, everything will be okay, you will be soon married to her and this will all be over with, just roll with it. It'll be fine, breath in, breath out, breath in…"

Tony tried to do exactly that, but failed. "GUAH! I think I'm gonna throw up." He turned down to the floor.

"Holy motherfuckingshitballsof-" Clint growled at him after he bit his tongue from saying the rest, he had a whole library of words to use but now wasn't the time, he had to save Tony from ruining his suit with vomit. Pepper would kill him if he were to let something as small as this happen. For Tony, it was a big problem to be nervous, but for Pepper..one smudge of stain on the suit would make her mad as hell. "YOU BETTER NOT THROW UP ON THIS SUIT!" When Steve saw what was about to happen he suggested to Thor to hurry up and find something that Tony could vomit in, Thor came back with a vase from somewhere in the building and hunched Tony over it so he could properly gag.

Steve grimaced at the contents, he didn't get a chance to look away fast enough, since he was still at Tony's side. "Ughhh! Gross… Tony are you really that distressed?"

"Before you put that back," Clint said, "I doubt anyone else wants to see his shit. So just hide it somewhere for now. Or better yet, just throw it in the garbage. Not right now though, Wedding starts in 30 seconds."

Big mistake. Tony started flipping out. "WHAT! THIRTY SECONDS!?"

"Calm down, chillax, remember what I said!" Steve said, it was hard enough to try and save Tony from ruining his suit but he seemed like he was going to throw up again and the contents on the vase were already piled up as it is no thanks to the mountain of dirt. He wasn't sure if Tony would mind being touched, but he was running out of ideas. He pulled the man into a tight hug and held onto him for a while hoping it would calm him down.

"Oh geez," Clint sighed. "Alright, well. Guess we'll just...wait until they call us in."

Thor simply nodded.

Meanwhile in the female side of the building where the bride, maid of honor, brides maids, flower girls, etc etc for the wedding were sitting in Pepper was the exact opposite of Tony. She was giddy, excited and hyper.

All the other hyper and excited girls flocking around her didn't help. They were taking pictures, beautifying the bride up with expensive make up and hair do. She decided to have her hair done in an up do of curled buns in the back of her head. It would keep her hair out of the way, she didn't feel like dealing with strands around her face at her wedding. She normally wore her hair down when she felt like being casual, but this was a time for being professional, not casual.

For her wedding dress, Pepper found a dress that was sleeveless, towards the top part where her breasts were, there was silver material going across it. Near the bottom of the dress was pleats of silver and metallic silver, all over the dress itself was sparkles of coal gray glitter. She looked very beautiful. She liked beauty, but she also liked to be simple.

The girls stood in their proper positions. The maid of honor was next to Pepper, who would walk down the isle with her and her father on the left hand side as the last pair. Behind her were the braids maids whom would also walk down the isle first (while making little twirly dance moves in the process), followed by the flower girls (two little children, belonged to Pepper's sister.)

They stood in front of the opened door as the outside began to quiet down , the priest started to speak. "Alright girls," Pepper said with a grin, "Let's rock."

* * *

_**-wedding music-**_

Just as planned, the brides maids were the first ones to walk down the isle, at their side were the grooms men. (both sides of the genders were from Pepper's family sense Tony didn't have much of one, she had a rather large one). They walked down the isle in a fancy way, looked almost as if they were dancing a little.

They stood at the alter by each others sides when they were finished. The best man and best woman were already there at the alters, holding onto two pillows with fancy rings. One that Tony brought for Pepper and the other someone else brought for him (he was too nervous to even think about buying himself anything before the wedding).

After the somewhat playful wedding music, the usual "Here Comes the Bride" music started playing. People were clapping and awwing at the show from before, but they stopped when they heard the organs being played. They turned to see two children skipping in front of the bride, and Natasha whom was convinced to be a "Page" was behind her holding the trail as she walked.

Pictures were flashed and people were still kind of awwing. The groom (Tony) was already at the alter after Steve finally managed to calm him down after giving him a cup of water. Thankfully there was no vomit all over his tuxedo, they didn't have to pull an extra thirty or so minutes to try and scrub it off or hide it. THAT would've been embarrassing. Hopefully Thor found a trash can for the vase, they would have a hard time explaining how the junk ended up in someone's flowers.

Pepper finally stopped in front of where Tony stood. He seemed calm enough , but the nervousness still shown in his chocolate eyes. Pepper smiled at him and he found himself relaxed at that. He winked at her.

The music finally stopped, the preacher appeared at the podium, the person before hand was just someone to give a speech at the beginning full of information about what, when , where, why , and how this wedding is going to go, she handed out pamphlets to everyone there with the help of Ushers.

"Do you, Miss Pepper, Take Tony Stark as your husband, in sickness and in health, will you honor him until death does you part?" The preacher asked.

"I do," Pepper said.

"Do you, " He looked at Tony. Tony had to bite his tongue to keep himself from looking at him, his only focus was on Pepper right now. "Tony Stark, take this woman as your wife, in sickness and in health, and will you honor her until death does you part?"

"I do," Tony said.

"You both have declared your consent before the church," The priest began, lifting his arms up to the sides at wing spans length, his robes were large and flowy, "may the good lord bless you and strengthen your consent, may he fill you with his blessings! As witnesses before God, you may now kiss."

When they began kissing passionately, Pepper's hands behind his ears and Tony's arm wrapped around her head gently, everyone stood up clapping their hands and cheering, flashes of the camera were everywhere in the room. (Yes, they cleaned his breath first before sending him out there, what kind of fools do you take them for?!)

Bruce was also there in the background somewhere, he decided to stay out of the stress of the wedding that usually comes when planning with stuff. He also hated crowds for good reason, he stayed in the back of the room somewhere, he found a seat to himself near the back. When everyone stood up he just sat there with a small smile. When the Wedding Dinner was announced Bruce managed to find Tony alone and told him thank you for inviting him to the wedding, good luck for both of you and pepper/best wishes, and left somewhat quickly. All the noise and loud music was making the "Other Guy" anxious. Last thing he needed was to Hulk out just because the big green guy decided to come out and play.


	3. Chapter 3

**2 weeks later, February 28. Married on February 14th.**

* * *

Tony and Pepper were in the bed, soundless sleeping. It was way beyond midnight, the only one who had trouble sleeping was Tony. His thoughts wouldn't shut off. He kept thinking, kept worrying, was very anxious even if he didn't have a wedding to be anxious about. It took him a while to figure it out, but he figured it out: He was worried about screwing everything up, making Pepper hate him and leave him.

Even though she told him countless times that she wouldn't leave him for anything, and would always be by his side, he still had that fear. That fear that he would say something stupid or do something stupid, Pepper would hate him enough to leave him? It's been done before, he hasn't been able to keep a stable relationship for more than 5 months before whoever he was with decided that they've had enough. Then Pepper came along.. and now they're up at this point. He could really use some scotch right about now.

He moved an inch, trying his best to be careful as to not wake Pepper up, he took her hand from around his arc reactor and placed it gently on the pillow. Just as he knew would happen (and hoped it wouldn't happen), Pepper woke up. "Tony? What's.." She rubbed her eyes and let out a soft yawn, "What's wrong?"

Tony coughed, "Um. I'm going to work on a project?"

"What?" Pepper sat right up at that. "Tony you told me you wouldn't do any of that while we were out on our honeymoon 'slash' vacation? What's going on? Something's bothering you isn't it?"

"No." Tony said. A little too quickly. He took a step further but Pepper stopped him:" Ah ah ah!~ Stop right there mister."

And he sighed. Curse Pepper for always being right about everything, always knowing everything even when he tried to hide it. In the genius department she was a step under him. She was just as intelligent as he was, if not smarter.

"C'mere." She sat upright, patting the bed. Tony turned around, he smirked at her trying to play confidence, but Pepper saw right through him. She knew something was bothering him with the way he twitched on his feet whenever he moved. When Tony didn't budge she grew a stern look. "Anthony," She said using his full name, Tony flinched at that. "SIT."

With a sigh Tony finally sat down next to her, running his fingers through his hair. When he managed to sit down at a comfortable balance on the bed (it was a pretty big water bed that he made sure the hotel had for them), she smiled. "Good boy. Now tell me what's bothering you and DON'T dance around my question please."

"I'm afraid I'm going to screw up," Tony said.

"What?" Pepper exasperated, she held onto the side of her head as if she had a migraine coming on, "Tony we've been through this conversation already. Countless times, Tony. And how many times have I said that I wasn't going to abandon you even if you make a mistake? Granted that doesn't mean act like an ass anyway just cus I've said that, but honestly dear, this is the umpteemth time that this topic has been brought up. It's really bothering you?"

"Yup" Tony answered simply, hands folded in his lap.

Pepper shook her head, "Well, you don't have to worry about a thing. Okay? If it's really bothering you this much how about I show you how much you mean to me?" She pushed him back down on the bed, poking at his arc reactor. "Hmm?"

Tony tilted an eyebrow, "Oh? Being a little fresh with me tonight?"

"Tony, " She said quickly.

"yeah?"

"Shut up and let me start this, okay?" She said, and before Tony could utter another word she kissed him fresh on the lips, taking off his boxers in the process. A very long night (or day, whatever) of delicious love was ahead of them.

* * *

**A Month later (March 13 2013) **

* * *

The avengers had gathered once again at the tower, unless it was a major holiday or some kind of get-together where they absolutely had to be there, it was very rare for them to be in the same room with each other.

Pepper made herself and Natasha a cup of coffee, the two women were chatting away at the breakfast/dining table in the kitchen. Pepper was anxious about something as she told Natasha the latest news. Clint was sitting directly beside Natasha missing with a cellphone (courtesy of Stark, he got it for Christmas. All the Avengers had cell phone upgrades soon after).

"I don't know how to tell him," Pepper said. "He has so much on his mind right now, I just."

"Just go up to him," Natasha smiled patting Pepper on the hand, "Wait until he's not working on some project, and then have a nice little talk with him. Don't say it right away, just start off with some kind of 'fantasy' conversation. He'll get the hint, he ain't dumb."

"Sometimes he IS dumb." Clint added, "Remember, this is Stark we're talkin' about." He received a smack on the back of his head from Natasha, "OW! HEY! Will you stop doing that?!"

"I will when you stop adding your two cents into every conversation, " Natasha gave a half smirk, "Bird brain." She cleared her throat, turning back to Pepper as she peeled a Banana. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Just work on how you are going to tell him this."

"Tell me what?" Tony said. Nobody knew that he had been standing there most of the time no thanks to the walls that lined up the entrance of his kitchen, he was pouring himself some coffee in the process.

"awkward…." Clint whispered to himself. Without saying anything else he stood up and left the room, he elbow Tony in the side with a "heeeeey hot shot" walking out of the room. Confused Tony arched an eyebrow at the archer as he hopped up onto his 'nest' in the corner of the ceiling.

He turned to the two girls at the table, "What's going on here? Am I missing something? Did he just…" Tony blinked a few times at the large grin on Natasha's face. Natasha was grinning? Usually that woman never showed any emotion other than annoyance or seriousness. And she was grinning? He needs some more coffee. Natasha gave Pepper one last smile, patting her hand again before she finally stood up and left. She winked at her and turned around the kitchen corner.

"Tony I have to tell you something…." Pepper said.

"Okay, just let me make one more c-" Tony didn't get to finish:

"No it can wait, this is important. " Pepper huffed and cocked her head to the side, "Please?"

"Alright, alright." Tony placed the Coffee pot down, "I had enough coffee anyway. Whats up Pumpkin Cakes?" He asked.

"I'm…" She paused, biting her lip. "Pregnant?" She said. Natasha told her to make some kind of long explanation about what a family would be like, little Tony's and Pepper's running around, maybe a few pets (Natasha was going a bit over board on that, Pepper suggested maybe only one pet), Natasha said it's every woman's dream, and she was right about that. It was Pepper's dream. She found out she was pregnant when she was in the bathroom, she had been acting and feeling a little funny, she wanted to know why without going to the hospital right away (that would scare the crap out of Tony) so she did the pregnancy test at home just to be sure and sure enough it came out positive. She gave Natasha points for effort on trying at least, but she likes everything to be complicated.

"Are you serious?!" Tony shrieked, jaw dropped.

"I know this is coming off so sudden b-"

"PEPPER THIS IS GREAT NEWS!" Tony shouted, picking her up bridal style. It surprised her enough to let out a yip. "You know what this means don't you?! I'm gonna be a dad! Oh man just wait until the others find out!" He placed her down and took off. Pepper stood there blinking at the spot he dashed off from. She's seen Tony get excited, but she's never seen him get this excited before. She smiled, she had nothing to worry about after all. Tony took the news a lot better than she expected he would.

* * *

**The Gym. Steve**

* * *

"Hey Steve!? You got a minute?" Tony skidded to a hault directly behind Steve, as soon as he punched the bag so hard it flew into the air he turned around. "Yes? What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing!" Tony shrieked, "I'm gonna be a dad!"

"Really?" Steve held his hand out and shook Tony's hand. Both men were pretty excited, but Steve wasn't as excited as Tony was. "That's excellent news!"

"Yes, I don't mean to keep you busy so I'll be seeing you! BYE!" And he took off again, probably to find Bruce somewhere. Steve shook his head and went back to punching the bags to death.

* * *

Bruce. Science Lab.

* * *

"Hey buddy!" Tony shouted.

Bruce looked up from his labwork, a little bit startled, he lifted his glasses up his nose. "Yeah?"

"I'm gonna be a dad!" He said and took off again before Bruce could say anything else. Bruce shrugged and went back to work, he would've said "congratulations' but Tony was already gone.

* * *

Clint/Natasha. Living Room.

* * *

"Hey guys?! Guess what?!" Tony shouted. He skidded to a stop in the middle of the living room. Clint was on his nest/hanger area above the living room, Natasha was on the couch scrubbing her gun with the jar of polish she got for Christmas.

"We know," Natasha and Clint both said.

"You do?" Tony blinked. "She told you already?"

"Yeah kinda," Natasha replied with a shrug. "She wasn't sure how you would take the news so she came to us for advice."

"Well it's obvious that I'm excited isn't it?" Tony smiled wide at them, "Man maybe we should have a party. A big one. Inviting all the people we know or something, the same people from the wedding, perhaps? Nah that was too many people maybe I'll just stick with friends and family. Maybe a baby shower party thing? Oh! And I really need to start baby proofing this place and th-" He gave a sudden pause: "Oh my god."

"What?" Clint responded peeking over his hanger/nest.

Tony didn't even respond, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.

"Tony!"


	4. Chapter 4

9 Months… 9 months with Pepper has been pure hell. She kept yelling about people thinking that she is fat, that she should chop Tony's dick off for even giving her this much crap to deal with (in which he then argued that she was the one who crawled up on him first, that shut her mouth up during that argument immediately).

Tony was starting to drive up the wall with insanity over his wife's misfits. She would sometimes send Tony down to the store demanding food or some kind of sweet junk food or icecream, sometimes she would demand fast food only to turn right back around and say that she doesn't want it. When he starts eating whatever he brought home she would launch right into drama mode about nobody caring about her while stuffing her face with pickles and chocolate syrup.

Tony scrunched his nose up at that. Wasn't this the same woman that complained about not wanting any of the stuff he just brought home, but while ranting while not caring about her she went and grabbed just what she "claimed" that she didn't want?

Tony face palmed as he grabbed himself a cup of ice cold scotch, rubbing his fingers across his eyebrows. He couldn't wait until this torture was over with.

"Tony?!" Pepper growled still ranting. "Are you listening to me?!"

Nope. He definitely isn't. La la la la la la land.

Within the next hour Tony brought home some sharawma for dinner. It was a lovely sandwhich that he ordered, he made sure it had nothing on it that would cause Pepper's stomach to be upset or make her turn her nose in the other direction. For himself, he brought a sub sandwhich with the works, but made sure to be eating in the opposite direction of Pepper before she ranted on him to hell and back about not being able to stand the site or smell of whatever it is he's eating.

Pepper stood up, "Tony thanks for the meal. It was nice. Nice and simple" She walked over to him and pecked his cheek.

"Just the way you like it, right?" Tony kissed her back. "mmwah."

"Oh god Tony you need a peppermint," She backed up and held onto her nose. "Phew. Uh-oh."

"What is it…" Tony narrowed his eyebrows, putting his sandwhich down slowly, "Don't tell me my bad breath is making you sick. That's ridiculous. You've nev-"

"No no, it's not that….nothing .." Pepper was trying to say that it had nothing to do with his breath (maybe it did though it made no scientific sense). She held onto her stomach, kneeling down on the floor.

"Oh…oh..oh! OH SHIT! Pepper are you?! SHIT!" Tony stood up immediately, all the food knocked onto the floor and forgotten about. He tried to pull Pepper up just as quickly but she barked at him to put her back down on the floor, instructing him to lay her down on her back. She stared up at the ceiling breathing like crazy. Tony picked up his cellphone and dialed every last Avenger's number like a mad man. Everyone picked up at the same time, being connected to each other by intercom made communicating much easier on them if they had an emergency.

"Woah ho ho-" Clint on the upper right hand corner of the intercom screen held his one hand up at the sight of Tony, "Tony calm down man, you look like a train wreck."

"Yeah what's going on?" Steve scratched his head equally confused.

"Do you guys have any idea what time it is?" Natasha complained, she was at the bottom left of the intercom screen; she blew at her red bangs.

"I know," Tony whispered to them with Pepper yelling at him to hurry up in the background, "I know, I know." He moved to another corner away from Pepper's flailing form to avoid being smacked with something by her (she was freaking out pretty badly).

"Wait a minute." Natasha's eyes went wide, "Is that…was that Pepper I just heard?"

"Well gee thanks for noticing captain obvious," Said a grumpy Bruce who's picture was just underneath Natasha's whose was next to Clint's. He rolled his eyes, he was pretty grumpy for being woken up right when he went to sleep.

"Guys I don't have time for this!" Tony shouted loudly, "Pepper's in labor and I need all of you to get your asses ready now! I need help and I'm damned sure that she would need some too, she won't let me drag her across the floor or hold her, so hurry and get over here dammit!" He clicked the button on the side of his phone, watching in irritation as the whole screen blinked out.

"Took you guys long enough," Tony mumbled, watching as Natasha and Steve helped Bruce carry Pepper down the hall, arms folded. He was slightly offended that whenever he tried to give help the only thing he got in return was a bash in the head or a bunch of insults from her about putting her in this much pain when *SHE* was the one who wanted this. He could feel his irritation rise, he pressed the side of his head with his fingers and followed the whole crew out the front door.

"Tony" Natasha grunted as she let Steve hoist her up to the back of the large Avenger's Van. "Shut up and get in the car."

Tony rolled his eyes and did as told. Steve was in the front seat with Natasha, Natasha was driving the van. Bruce was in the back couching Pepper on breathing techniques, talking to her in the process in hopes of calming her anxieties down. It didn't take long for the group to reach the hospital, thanks to Natasha's navigation system. She new the newyork streets like the back of her hand, she had a ton of secret roads to take to get to another street in a quickened pace if there was too much traffic. Even though Natasha would've probably done so first, Pepper screamed "I'm gonna kill you!" when Natasha finally pulled up at the hospital. She knew she didn't mean it and was just aggravated. She probably _did_ drive a little too crazy, but she did so to avoid the traffic.

"Alright kids, get out of the car , we're here," She said slowing down between sentences, she seemed to be in a slightly panicked mess herself. She was hiding it pretty well from the others though as she brushed a strand of hair behind her ears. Everyone had their feet near the edge of the car opening. Tony stepped out first. Then Tony helped Bruce lift Pepper out (ignoring her cries and insults of not wanting him to thrown at him) and carry her into the hospital. Natasha turned to look at Steve noticing he wasn't out of the van yet.

"What?" Natasha placed her hands on her hips when Steve finally pushed the car door open. "I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world that you've seen drive that crazy."

"Maybe so," Steve said, huffing with a sigh. "But not THAT crazy. I swear, even with a van your dangerous. It's like whatever comes near you ends up with a counter attack ninja move."

"And that's why people don't like to cross me. Or," She smirked, tilting her head a little, huffing her chest with pride as she folded her arms. "even If they do, they don't get to get away with it alive. I'm not called the Black Widow for nothing you know." She winked at him, walking away with her own steady pace through the glass hospital doors. Steve stood at the spot she left from, staring at the electronic doors as they closed. He shook his head, then followed her down the hallway.

* * *

**24 hours later. August 7****th**** 2014 12:00 am. **

* * *

Thor arrived soon after everyone else at the hospital, he showed up as a strike of lightning, startling the visitors who didn't know him. Once he was in the clear, he sat in the chairs and waited for the others to show up. They finally did, each of them looking a little winded as if they had just been ran over by a truck (if only he knew how right he was).

He shook each team members hand, they sat down one by one. At first Natasha wasn't going to do anything drastic to Tony, but she got agitated from all his constant pacing back and forth across the room.

"Natasha, no no no" Clint shook his hand at her, (as well as his head). "That's not necessary."

"I think it is if he won't sit his ass down and relax." Natasha grumbled.

"I can knock him out with mljnoir!" Thor shouted proudly, lifting the arm with the said hammer held in his fist. Clint pulled his arm down immediately, he narrowed his eyes at him as Thor sheepishly grinned. "Or not," He said childishly. He put the hammer down in the floor with slight disappointment.

"Tony! Will you stop pacing?!" Steve yelled at him, "That's not going to fix whatever anxiety you have about Pepper right now. It's just going to make it worse! And besides your pacing is giving you all a headache!"

"If that's the case then why don't you guys get the fuck out, then!" Tony barked angrily at them. He was already irritated…now this..

"EXCUSE ME?!" Clint stood up. "We're by your side through thick and thin and this is the thanks we get?!"

"Calm down you guys.." Bruce held onto his head…here we go again..

"That does it." Natasha grabbed Tony from the front and yanked him down, surprising everybody in the room. She couldn't just sit back and watch stupid drama unfold before her for petty reasons. Alright, she got it, everybody was agitated! She was agitated too but you don't see her jumping down everybodys throats (though at the moment, the only person she's currently doing that to is Tony to make the fight stop). Her quick moves caught everyone off guard including Tony, he was so surprised when she strapped his mouth up in duct tape that he didn't get to react in time when she hand cuffed his arms to the chair. She sat back down on the chair that she hand cuffed him to, grabbed a magazine and flipped a few pages as if nothing ever happened.

Everyone else…. Steve..Bruce..Clint. The remaining three look at each other with lifted eyebrows.

"Anyone want a drink?" Bruce said finally breaking the ice that was in the room.

"Soda." Clint said. "Dr. Pepper kind, please."

"What about you Steve?" Bruce said, a forced smile on his face (he is well trained in this department).

"Water," Steve said, nodding his thanks. "Definitely water."

Bruce didn't wait another minute, he turned down the hallway looking for refreshments. As he placed his dollar in the coke machine, he sighed a breath of relief…the Hulk almost came out to play right then. Thankfully Natasha always knew what to do to stop shit before shit started. He looked slowly to the right, he got curious. He wondered if the guys waiting back at the waiting room would want some snacks. To be mean, maybe he wouldn't get Tony anything. He didn't deserve the snacks for his sour puss attitude.

Twenty four hours worth of waiting made everyone restless…even after dinner and refreshments, they were still kind of… uncertain. What was taking them so long? Why? Is Pepper okay? They weren't as anxious as Tony was, but they were anxious enough. And yes, Natasha did finally rip off the duct tape from his mouth and unhand cuffed him so he could eat, like Natasha thought he would do, he remained quiet for the rest of the evening. No more fights broke out.

"Mr. Stark." The doctor said holding a clip board (not bruce!) .

Tony stood up, "yeah?!"

"Congratulations, it's a girl." He said, side stepping just in case he would get ran over by him, he had that happen by too many new soon-to-be-fathers that he had prepaired for it each and every time he went to get them in the waiting room. Thankfully he side stepped because Tony did exactly that. He stopped in the hallway, however, once he noticed something was missing. "What's the room number?"

Everyone in the waiting room rolled their eyes and groaned. Tony was smart? Yes, when it came to science/life/death and things like that he was smart..but when it came to common sense he was pretty damn stupid.

Natasha stood up, shaking her head with a small chuckle. "Doctor. The room number, please."

"Oh, " He flipped through the pages on his clipboard. "Of course. Sorry, Ahem" He cleared his throat, he was busy watching Tony making sure he didn't bother any of the nurses or students walking down the hallway about the room number. "Room 104."

"Thank you," Natasha said. She motioned for the ones in the back of the room to follow her. The doctor called for Tony, they were behind the group of Avengers ahead of them as they led the way to the room where Pepper was currently holding her baby.

"Such a cute baby~~" Natasha cooed as she went to the right side of Pepper's bed. "Did you name her yet?"

"No, " Pepper shook her head. "Not yet, I have a few names in mind but I would like Tony to share too."

Tony gulped. He gave Steve a "help me!" look, but the only thing Steve did for him was narrow his eyes at him, shoving him to the left side of Pepper's bed and forcing him to sit down.

"How about Kassa? The name itself in Qenya means 'glass'." Thor suggested.

"That's a pretty name," Pepper said. "Tony?"

"No," Tony folded his arms and snorted. "I am not naming her Kassa, that sounds like some dumb country chick's name. We're in NEW YORK here people. Hello? No offense to that Thor, but…that name isn't gonna fly with me."

"None taken, Man of Iron." Thor reached over and gave Tony a pat on the arm. "Tis your child, and you should name her as you wish."

"Exactly right my man," Tony lifted a finger at him, "And that's exactly why I've decided to name her Krystal."

"Krystal?" Steve tilted an eyebrow, "Isn't that a little…cliché?"

"Nah," Tony grinned. "I like the name, it's more classy to me. Besides, it won't be obvious when we throw any nicknames at her. Anything starting with 'K-A-T' would be too obvious. Anything else like an Amy or Brittany or…GOD FORBID susan…?! Ugh they sound like a bunch of terrible mary sue names."

Everyone in the room laughed at Tony's optimism, he had a good point, except for Thor, who had to ask what is a Mary sue, in which Tony tried to answer the best he could. Steve already knew what a mary sue was, he learned a lot during his time here in the new century. He had a good point.

"So if we give her a name like Krystal," Tony said, "but nick name her Khris, or Khrissie, nobody would know why we call her that and would think that it would mean what it means cus people can be dumb like that. What do you think, guys? Krystal Maria Stark?"

"Your giving her your mother's name as your middle name?" The nurse near them asked. She's been quiet the whole time.

"Yes." Tony nodded. "Is that alright, Pepper?"

"Of course it is," Pepper smiled as Tony leaned over to kiss her forehead. "We all know how much you miss your mother. So it's alright."

"Alright then," The nurse finished writing everything down on the birth certificate. "Krystal Maria Stark, Born August 7th which makes her a Leo, time was 1:40 am. Now the only thing we need is a foot print and we're done, though I recommend keeping all of you here for some well deserved rest, including the mother and the baby for a day or two to make sure that there isn't any complications. Any questions?"

They shook their heads no, the nurse turned and walked out the door, heals clicking down the hallway.

"Welcome to the world sweat pea," Pepper said softly, she gave her daughter a gentle kiss on the cheek. Despite all the noise she was still asleep, she hadn't made a cry at all even when she was being delivered. She was sucking onto her thumb as well…(or fist? They couldn't tell sense she was wrapped in a thick pink blanket, and it covered most of her face). Pepper knew that from the moment she held her daughter in her arms that she wasn't going to have any trouble raising her.

At least that's what she thinks.

Pepper lifted the baby over to Tony, he almost jumped out of his chair. "Oh no, I am not holding her. I'll break her."

"Tony you won't break the baby," Steve laughed, Pepper rolled her eyes, handing the baby over to Steve anyway sense she was already in the process of moving. Tony jumped back from the bed as soon as he saw the baby being handed to him. Bruce snorted at Tony as he kind of freaked out.

"I'm holding her," Steve said reassuringly. With both hands instead of one. "And I can crush a million soda cans with one grip. So," He paused, slowly handing the baby over to Tony. He kept shaking his head with pleading eyes, but was unanswered, Natasha forcing him to hold his hands out for the baby didn't help either. "Here, try it. You won't break her. I promise."

After Tony became comfortable with holding the baby like those stuffed teddy bears (but more gently) that he had as a kid, the remaining people in the room relaxed and left to give Pepper and her husband some privacy, wishing them good luck in the process. Tony held onto her for what almost seemed like hours. He turned to Pepper, he was about to say something to her only to find her fast asleep (probably due to all the exhaustion from the medication and labor).

Tony rolled his eyes, "Oh gee thanks a lot Pepper," He grumbled. The baby started moving in his arms a little, her eyes weren't opening but she felt and heard everything going on in the outside world. She recognized her father's voice and cooed at it.

"Oh? Hi?" Tony said only to receive a "eee-hheebloooouu…" from her. Then she placed her hand in her mouth and fell to sleep. "I hear ya kid, I'm beat myself," Tony yawned. He adjusted himself in the seat with the extra pillows that the doctors placed there, and fell asleep with the baby in his arms. _I guess this isn't so bad…._ He thought before sleep overtook him.

The nurse came back to give them some extra snacks and water, but stopped when she saw that Tony and his Wife were both asleep, and that the group that was in the room had gone home. She smiled, turned off the lights and closed the door.


	5. Chapter 5

_**3 years later. **_

* * *

Before long Pepper was back at work, running the bank accounts of Stark Industries, making sure that Stark Industries products were being delivered properly and that nothing was broken or misplaced and forgotten about. She had multiple cell phones for "just in case" calls, and on top of the multiple cell phones she also had multiple regular phones at her working desk, all of them were constantly ringing and giving her a headache as people called in for meeting reschedules, or meeting scheduling.

The stress was large on her, and it didn't help that she was now a mother of a 3 year old. It was hard enough to try and find a baby sitter for their little girl, but Tony reassured her that they were going to be fine, they had the avengers to look after her in case anything went wrong while they were working. Still, even with the relief of Tony's reassurance the stress of work in general kept piling on high.

"Yes Mr. Grants. I'll make the schedule for next Tuesday, will that work for you?" Pepper said. "Hold on one moment," She grabbed another phone at the same time and answered with : "Yes the day of Friday is available," She placed that phone down and went back to talking with whoever called her first. "I'm sorry about that Mr. Grants. Do you have the proper contact information? Yes? Alright, good bye and have a nice day."

She sighed and face planted into the desk with a mumbled groan, the phones were still in her hands. She looked toward the left, noticing the large pile of paper work that Tony STILL hadn't signed.

She was going to kill him for that. Man she was going to kill him!

* * *

Meanwhile Tony was in his lab working on iron man upgrades, and weaponry upgrades in general for all the avengers just in case they were called in to save the universe again. It'd been years of peace and quiet, they were able to kick back, settle down and finally get on with their lives without worry of anymore alien invasions. Sometime around October 30th of 2016, Clint and Natasha finally married. About time, slow assed-mother-fuckers.

He sighed, rubbing the side of his head as he tossed the wrench down on the desk. He was trying to fix something within his armor but he wasn't exactly sure what needed the most upgrade. He waved his hand across the air, creating a hologram screen of his Iron Man suit. It span around in a slow motion circle as he calculated all the things that might need upgrading. Again. He was tired of his suit being easily taken down with just a few missals or bullets, magic was another thing that worried him. He wanted to make sure his suit could withstand that after the incident with Loki. He hadn't even looked at the suit after the Avengers went their separate ways when the fight was over. Now that he finally had the chance to look over what needed to be added, he had so many ideas in mind that it was bothering him to the point of being unable to focus on just one thing.

"Scotch…that's gonna help me out a lot, yeah?" He said speaking to no one in particular but himself, he scratched the few stray hairs that stood up on the side of his head , stretching as he stood from his desk to get to the part of his lab that held a small, private bar. He looked down at the floor when he heard some gooing and cooing noises from his little girl. He made sure that Dum-E and Butterfingers were keeping her preoccupied as he worked, sometimes Jarvis would pop in to help them if things got a little too hectic with the little one.

Krystal seemed to be tampering with something. He wasn't sure what it was, but whatever it was it looked too dangerous for her to be playing with.

"No no no, Krystal." Tony walked over to her, "Don't play around with daddy's stuff. That's dangerous!" He reached down to pick up whatever it was she was putting together but stopped in mid-grab when he recognized what it was.

"What th-" Tony blinked. "Is that what I think it is?!"

Yes. His daughter at age 3 years old made a replica of the arc reactor just from using some of the scraps of equipment that DUM-E and Butterfingers probably brought over to her to keep her busy (the poor girl only had her bottle, a rattle, and some blocks to play with. Those got boring over time.). The arc reactor was somewhat poorly constructed, but the fact that she even knew how to closely design one struck Tony as odd. His little girl was a genius? She was only 3 years old and is able to copy the things that she sees a close as she can to it with whatever item she can get her hands on.

"Hey honey," Tony reached down to her to see if he could get her to talk a little. She was still learning and only knew how to say "mama" and "dada" and "bobo" for baby bottle if she was hungry. "Can you tell me where you learn to make that? Where did you see that at hunh?" He asked her.

"See?" The three year old tilted her head.

"Yes. Where did you see that?" Tony said. He wanted to make sure….

She pointed to his chest, "Dada! Dada Blue!"

Tony blinked. Holy-FUCKING-MOTHER-OF-CRAP. She was smart if she was able to build this…even if it was wonky and didn't work right. The point of the matter is that it looked almost exactly the same. She must've seen it when he sometimes walks around with no t-shirt on, just a pair of shorts, or boxers on his lazy days.

"Oh my god-this is amazing!" Tony jaw dropped. He had to tell Pepper of this. He picked up his cellphone and immediately dialed Pepper's phone number.

* * *

_Bring Bring! Bring Bring!_

UGH! Will these phone calls stop!? She's trying to manage the bank account of Stark Industries so that they won't go bankrupt with all the stuff they're selling, she's been non-stop at scheduling meetings for everyone who worked there, and sometimes sending people off on TDY trips to other countries…the list of stuff she had to do was endless.

"Ugh! What?!" She yelled. "I'm busy!"

"Well hey," Tony snorted through the other line. "I love you too, Pep."

"Oh, oh," Pepper covered her mouth when she realized she just yelled at her husband. "I'm sorry, stress from other phone calls, yes Tony?"

"Pepper. You're not going to believe this, " Tony said. He sounded as if he just saw a ghost.

"Believe what?" Pepper sighed, "If this is another one of your games or secret projects, I really don't have t-"

He didn't let her finish: "Krystal built her first arc reactor."

"Wait. What?!" Pepper did a double take at that, "Are you sure that's what it is?"

"Yes Pepper," Tony scoffed. "I'm not stupid, I know an arc reactor when I see one. It doesn't work right, isn't connected properly, but it still looks like an arc reactor. She copied what she saw on my chest. Sometimes I carry her around the house in the day with…uh..hah, no shirt on."

Pepper rolled her eyes at that, huffing at her ginger hair. Of course he'd sometimes walk around like that if there was nothing to do. She was a little surprised at the information though. "Where is Krystal?"

"She's currently on the floor playing with some toys that the robots brought her," Tony said. "I wanna make sure the reactor she duplicated doesn't get damaged so you can see it for yourself. This kid is smart, Pepper. She's only three years old! And she's smart enough to duplicate anything that she sees with ease even if it's something as simple as picking colors."

"Well she does have your brains, Tony." Pepper grinned. "I'm not surprised at that,"

"OUR brains," Tony corrected. "At least give your self some credit."

"I'll give myself 12 % of the credit," Pepper smirked.

"How about 90 percent of the credit?" Tony joked back, "I mean you did carry her for nine months, Pepper."

"Oh alright, fine, " Pepper snorted a laugh. "90 percent then, but, honestly Tony, I'm quite busy here, I'll see you two as soon as I'm done with this, okay?"

"Alright Pep," Tony nodded. Soon shouts of "NO NO NO! DON'T GIVE HER THAT!" was heard in the background, the phone was hung up automatically. Pepper blinked into the phone receiver, she had pulled it back during the shouting, it sounded like something crashing in the background as Tony yelled at his robot, probably Butterfingers who had a tendency to break everything it touches if it isn't careful.

She smiled, shaking her head as she laid down the phone. The last time Tony had called her, it was to tell her that her first word was "Papa". Speaking of Papa…she grabbed those paper works on the desk and headed out the door, ignoring the remaining phone calls. Time for a break, she was hungry for lunch anyway.


	6. Chapter 6

Pepper walked into Tony's lab, tossing a hand full of paper work at him; Tony caught it with ease. "Here, all the files that you have to sign by the end of the weak or ELSE."

"Mama!" Came a little happy cry from the floor. Pepper leaned down, picking her daughter up and planting kisses everywhere.

"Hi my little darling," Pepper replied with a chuckle, "How are you?"

"Fine! Fun!" Krystal shouted, pointing at her father who was groaning at the large amount of paper work that he had to sign…perhaps he should've signed them as soon as they started piling up; he's been spending so much time with his daughter so Pepper would've have to worry about a babysitter that he forgot about them. And now, he had to pay the price for it. What a headache. "Papa!" She screamed.

"I'm glad you had fun with papa," Pepper closed her eyes for a moment, letting her daughter tuck her head near her neck. The ginger-haired woman then turned to Tony, serious. She remembered the previous conversation over the phone about the arc reactor. "Tony, can I see the replica?"

"Hunh?" Tony blinked, shaking his head. "Oh sure," He had been staring at the paper work; happy to have his thoughts away from the mountain of work for the time being, he picked up the arc reactor that his daughter tried to build, handing it over to his wife. She picked it up gently with her hands, knowing how delicate it was sense it was poorly designed. She turned it over in the palm of her hand, studying it closely.

It looked like Krystal found one of Tony's old car batteries that was laying around, putting them together like blocks of legos (they were separated at the time that Dum-E and Butterfingers brought them over for her to play with; they're robots, not exactly AI smart, they didn't know any better discarding the fact that it could be dangerous) .

The inside of the arc reactor's wires were sticking out still, Krystal was too young to even know how to connect them together herself. But the rest of the attempt to build an arc reactor was really surprising for Pepper. It shouldn't be…she's seen her daughter copy things that she saw before, but this struck her as odd for a three year old to be able to do.

"That's impressive," Pepper handed the arc reactor back to Tony, "But I've seen her do these kind of things before. I already know she's smart, but I didn't think she was this smart."

"Oh yeah, " Tony hummed as he remembered how sneaky she can get. "Remember that one time when she took the candy bar and threw it across the room? I didn't understand why she did that at the time…but it's starting to make sense now, because you went to get it, remember?"

"Yes, yes. " Pepper nodded, sighing, "I hate anything out of place. And she was scolded," Pepper looked down at the child with her head behind her neck, "Weren't you sweat pea?"

The child squealed, but she didn't reply. Pepper laughed in response, "She then took my seat when I got up to get the candy, and reached over to get your soda. That right there was very creative."

"We have a little genius on our hands," Tony said with his well-known smirk. "Who knows, she'll probably turn out to be just like me in the future."

"Oh-the-noes," Pepper joked, rolling her eyes. "Two Tony's? One Tony is bad enough, but two?! We're doomed…."

"Doom?" Krystal said quietly. She liked to copy the words that she heard around her too. Which is why there was hardly anymore swearing these days with Tony and the other avengers if they were around her. Pepper would murder them all if she finds her daughter picking up their bad language.

"Yes, Krystal" Pepper nodded. "Doomed."

"Doom!" Krystal cheered, lifting her hands in the air and pulling her head away from her mother's neck.

"Heeeee-eeeey," Tony whined, placing a hand over his chest where his arc reactor sat, "That stung," He said, tapping it, "Right here. I'm not _that _bad, Pepper!"

"Well see who she grows up to be like when she's older, yes?" Pepper said to Tony, adjusting the girl on her shoulder so that she wouldn't fall off. "If she starts tinkering with cars and machinery, or god forbid, drinking and picking up boys, then we're all in trouble." She winked at him as she turned on her heals and left. As she moved away she asked, "Would you like to join us at the Pizzeria for lunch?"

"Sure-" Tony said, but stopped pointing an accusing finger at Pepper, "But! As if I would ever let her go dating!" He said as he charged after Pepper and his daughter out the door. Jarvis chuckled at them as they left. Over the years Tony installed the basic human feelings into the AI; he could now feel happy, sad, a little angry, and confused. He could now laugh at jokes, remind Tony to take proper care of himself and other things that needs to be taken care of, as well as irritation at Tony if he forgot anything extremely important (no where near pissed, Tony made sure that the AI didn't have that emotion installed). He even added the mute action so that if Jarvis was being annoying, he'd be able to "shut up". One time Jarvis was told to shut up by Tony, and he was told that "it does not compute with my system". …

Everything changed in the course of five years. Avengers tower had more stuff added to it, containing a lot more technology than it did in the past, it was almost like a hotel room now for the avengers and their families if they brought any along with them. Tony was no longer 42, he was in his early 50's…

He smiled to himself at the memories of the "olden days" (boy he was starting to sound like Steve, who had to be at least somewhere near 100 by now, immortal bastard). He shook his head, following his wife and daughter into the restaurant hoping that they wouldn't get mobbed by rabid fan girls or fan boys.

* * *

"The Humans have gotten too relaxed," Hissed a scratchy, annoying voice. It sounded like a snake that was high on drugs. "Now is our time to attack! They humiliated us, we lost to them, we must look like fools to them, master. And that mischievous one. Why haven't we made a move on him yet?! We were supposed t-"

"SILENCE!" Shouted the leader, whom was called 'Other" as his title. Nobody in the hide out of their star ship knew his real name. He had purple skin, bright beady red eyes and claws made out of deadly poison. Just one accidental scratch would kill you in under 10 seconds. He found weapons useless unless he sent an army out to do all his dirty work. He had a sinister grin on his face as his head turned to face the kneeling soldier, "I'm biding time, I'm waiting for them to become settled. Then, we take what's there's, just like they took what's ours away from us. By the time they realize where their precious ones are it will be too late," He said, clenching his fist as he hissed with anger at the humiliation of losing to humans. "As for the mischievous one, I have a special plan for him that will require some time just like the rest involved in this scheme. He is to be brought here with their precious ones at once, do you understand?"

The soldier nodded, "Yes, Other. Your request is at my command," He held his palm over his chest, turned quickly on his heal and marched out of the dark cavern. Evil laughter rung through the air, sending cold chills down anyone's spine if they were listening.


	7. Chapter 7

Loud music blared throughout the lab that Krystal and her father now shared. She was about 15 years old or so (15 in a half, as she liked to remind people seeing as today was her birthday). She was wearing an old jump suit that had blotches of white paint on it, a baseball cap that Uncle Clint lent her when she turned 12, (he had taken her out to her first baseball game and brought her the hat after much begging from Aunt Natasha who was threatening to kill everybody there for bumping into her too much), and there was a box of tools laying at her side. She was trying to fix the engine of one of her dads cars.

Whenever her dad needed repair, he would always come to his daughter for help to avoid spending unneeded extra cash, those car dealers became more and more expensive over the years. Tony was a billionaire, yes, but he would much rather spend his money on something else other than a car or machinery in general that needed to be fixed.

Speaking of the man, he was about 60 years old now. He felt it too, he was slowing down a little, he worried that he may have to retire his iron man suit soon. Hopefully, not too soon. He shook his head, now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. A couple of years back, Pepper and Tony discovered that their daughter was very smart, very sneaky, and very witty.

She built her first arc reactor at age 3. She skipped kindergarten and went straight to first grade. When she turned 10 years old, she and her father built another AI system called TINA (The Internet Navigating Assistant). She was a humanoid version of a mouse; a very tiny robot, Krystal choose the color neon violet for her.

Around the age of 13 years old she entered the robot in a science competition and won her first award. She continued to gain more and more knowledge as she grew older, her brain never slowed down or stunted, Tony and Pepper were very proud of her.

By the time she was the age she is now she graduated from high school. However, much to her father's dismay she absolutely refused to join Harvard University, or any university for that matter. Her father couldn't understand why she was rebelling against education so much. Her mother had a slight idea why, but they were still somewhat disappointed that she didn't want to continue her education.

Krystal, however, had a very good reason. She wanted to be "normal". With all this stuff about how smart she is she felt abnormal. She skipped kindergarden, she went straight to elementary school and was the first of her class to win a science award and a scholarship at a young age, but she did nothing with it.

Her father has been trying to convince her to go to college ever since, but failed each and every time. Her mother tried to push her along gently but not even her own mother could convince her to go to school. It just didn't feel right to go to school at a young age. She was only 15, she felt that she should at least wait until she was about 22 or so before she was sent to a university or college. Her father was pushing the issue onto her, and it was driving her nuts.

Tony stood there staring at his daughter's legs under the car with a heavy sigh. Why wouldn't she bother with university or college? He held the acceptance letter and the scholarship awards in her hand from when she graduated high school. "Honey, we need to t-"

"No dad," Krystal snorted from underneath the car she was working on, "I already know what you want to talk about and the answer is STILL no. Don't even bother getting mom to persuade me, I absolutely refuse."

"Why not?!" Tony whined. He was making that a habit these days, especially when he wanted to get people like his daughter to listen to him. "When I was your age-" He launched into another one of "when I was your age" stories. Underneath the car she was fixing, Krystal rolled her eyes.

When her father finished, she scooted out from underneath the car with the skateboard she was sitting on and looked at him with a bored expression. She huffed at her chocolate brown hair, "are you done yet?"

"Wait, what?" Tony blinked, then he snorted. "Don't get cheeky with me young lady! I don't care what day it is!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know dad, but seriously," Krystal sighed, "I just don't want to. At least give me a couple of years to wait."

"That's what this is about, eh?" Tony grinned.

"Took you long enough," Krystal grinned back at her father, "For a genius you can be dumb sometimes."

"HEY!" Tony grunted, "I resent that remark! I'm not dumb!"

Krystal just rolled her eyes again, "Whatever dad." She went back under the car, oil suddenly sprayed all over her face, causing her to roll back out sputtering and coughing. Tony outright laughed at her appearance, she was completely covered in dirt and oil, her hair was in a mess and she even smelled of gasoline. She was a tomboy, through and through, wasn't afraid to get dirty. Krystal glared at her dad as he laughed.

"What's so funny?!" She demanded, folding her arms.

"Nothing dear," Tony replied, "it's just that your mother told me once that you would probably end up like me when you get older, working on cars and experiments. The only thing she was wrong about was the fact that you haven't been picking up boys or drinking thank GOD. You better not start anytime soon," He warned, shaking a finger at her.

"Don't hafta worry about that, dad," Krystal smiled at him. "Sometimes I wish I wasn't though."

"Wasn't what? " Tony blinked at her, "Like me?" Why?"

"I feel so abnormal is why," Krystal stood up from her work. She could definitely use a shower, she supposed. "I graduated too early. I'm just a teenager, I'm not ready to be shoved into university or college yet, I wanna wait at least until I'm older before I step into the adult world. I feel like I'm being rushed."

Tony took a moment to consider that. He never thought of it that way. When he was her age he launched immediately into college, mainly to prove to his parents that he wasn't a useless piece of garbage, to win over his father's attention mainly. All for what? Nothing. His father still didn't notice him even after he went into college at 16. But it was an accomplishment, a major accomplishment, he was proud of it, and that's what mattered.

He blew everyone out of the water when he accomplished something at such a young age, even more so when he took over his father's company "Stark Industries" a year or so later. But his daughter? She seemed to have different motives with her life than he had. Then again, she had loving parents that supported whatever she choose to do in her life, she didn't have to prove herself to anybody, she didn't have to worry about being accepted.

Tony sighed, "Alright, alright, fine, but as soon as you turn 22 your getting your ass into college, understand me?" He paused for a while, hand on his hips as he pointed at Krystal, "A wise man once told me that a brilliant mind is a terrible thing to waste. Please don't waste yours."

"Don't worry dad I wont," Krystal went up to him and hugged him, "Thanks for your understanding."

"No problem kiddo," Tony smiled. "I'd take a shower if I were you,"

When Krystal backed up from him, she grinned sheepishly when she realized that she had gotten her father completely covered in oil, "Woops? Sorry about that. Bye, and thanks again!" She said cheerfully as she took off up the stairs. Tony shook his head smiling at her as she left.

* * *

"Yo, Clint," Bruce nodded at him, Clint nodded in return his acknowledgement of him, the two men were sitting at the breakfast table. "Are you taking Krystal out today to keep her busy?"

"Yep," Clint said. "Taking little diamond out, probably to the mall or something. Gonna treat her out, she won't even know about the party going on, I'll make sure of that. As of right now, Natasha is getting the cake and Abby is working on designing some of the material that will be hung up in the party room with Steve and Thor."

"Perfect," Bruce grinned at him. "In the mean time I'll be working on getting her the presents with her dad and mom, if anything comes up try to stall as long as you can."

"Got it," Clint nodded at him again. He stood up , gave Bruce a playful salute and went to go look for Krystal. When found he took her out immediately to the nearest mall, Krystal already knew that today was her birthday, she just wasn't expecting anything huge going on. Maybe a small family dinner, but that was the only thing she thought was on her agenda. She had no idea that her dad and mom were planning a huge sweet sixteen party for her or decorating a large as heck party room for her. Clint hoped that he could keep her busy for as long as they needed to decorate the place and set everything up.

"She is going to be so surprised, Dad." Said Jasmine Banner, Bruce's daughter. She was special like her father was, only instead of turning into a big green rage monster when mad, she had green reptile skin in it's place, and was very strong and powerful, though she only seemed to posses half of the power right now when you compare the strength with her father. She looked like a reptile when she was transformed for fighting. Bruce assumed that it was due to genes. The gamma radiation was within him; maybe it transferred over to his daughter. Although she had abilities that were almost like his own, he was thankful that she didn't become a huge green giant like he sometimes did.

The last couple of years, Bruce met up with his girlfriend, settled down with her, married and had a child with her. Jasmine looked almost like a split image of her parents. She was a spunky girl, the complete opposite of her father though she hated crowds and loud noises. She was jumpy in those kind of environments and clung to her father like he was her life line, or clung fearfully to a friend.

"I know, right?!" Squeaked Matt, Steve's son. He looked more like his father than his mother, but he had his mother's bright green eyes and hazel nut hair while his father was blonde with blue eyes (duh). He was an adventurer, a trouble maker, and often got into trouble with his parents.

Then you had CJ, who was Clint and Natasha's son. He was the quiet, serious one, very shy and slightly timid. He was strong and level headed, the leader of the trio of avenger children.

CJ rolled his eyes as Jasmine and Matt high-fived each other. He picked up his books and left the table, Bruce chuckling at their antics.

Even though Thor and Jane finally ended up marrying, the last of the group of avengers to marry, Thor never had any children.

He was usually always the last one behind, a step behind his group of the world's mightiest superheroes. Then again, with his life in constant danger he worried about having a child even though it would be nice to have a heir to the throne of asgard.

He may adopt in the near future, but when you put his life on the line every day because of whom he was he felt it better to not have any children, and surprisingly, Jane agreed. It was bad enough that she was always worrying about him when he went on missions for months at a time. Then again, there was also the fact that ex-super-villain Loki had a child. He didn't seem to worry about danger as much, very care free (some say carelessly stupid).

He joined the avengers to help redeem himself for the damage he caused on Midgard back when he was evil. He found a girl, and eventually ended up with child. Out of all the children Loki already had, he wanted a normal name sense the ones you could find in mythology books had odd names; they were born in somewhat odd environments. Sense his newest child was born on earth, the child was named Annabelle.

His wife Helene seemed quite taken with that name. She was a slightly plump women with rosey cheeks, dark red hair, black eyes and a freckled face. She didn't consider herself very beautiful, and those whom knew Loki best were surprised that he picked a woman like her. He saw her for who she was: a woman with a generous heart, who had a past that was somewhat similar to his own and also loved a good joke now and then. There were three major differences between the two: Loki was immortal, a god, and skilled in magic.

The other was just a mortal, simple girl, who didn't consider herself very pretty, struggling with self esteem issues. She appeared to be confident on the outside, but on the inside she was emotional and stressed. Loki liked the fact that she wasn't power-hungry and loved to have fun when she could. Most of the people he tried to get together with back on asgard were power hungry with ego problems. Perhaps the reason why they were so surprised was because a few years ago he had considered mortals weak, helpless and stupid. Yet here he was, married to one and with a child of his very own. There was also the fact that when her name was shortened, it reminded him a lot of his daughter's name, "Hel" whom was ruler of the underworld.

Though the people who knew him were surprised by his choice, Loki could care less about them. He loved Helene and his daughter Annabelle, he wouldn't trade them for anything in the world; they were his treasure.

* * *

Steve, Bruce and Thor were sitting on the floor creating a large banner for the birthday party. Steve with his artistic skills, Bruce with handing out the supplies that Steve needed to paint across the banner, and Thor holding the banner down with his large, muscular and powerful hands.

All three of the boys had paint dripping from them, Steve looked the most ridiculous. Neither of them noticed as Tony approached them, taking a quick snap shot of them.

When Steve looked up with a tilted eyebrow, followed by an annoyed Bruce and a surprised Thor, Tony took another picture of all three of them looking at the camera. Steve yelled "I'm busy here!" And Thor was yelling "Flash!? Another! We were not prepared for such an occasion! What is it you call this again; Photos?"

"Yes, Thor," Bruce said, rolling his eyes.

"And what is that big black thing in the Man of Iron's hands?" Thor said, tilting his head curiously at the said item Tony was holding.

"A camera," Tony replied, he turned away from the group whistling to himself as he went to finish the rest of the decorations with Pepper. Krystal had no idea that the party was going to be as large as Tony was planning it. Paparazzi/media, important business men, friends, family, the works. Krystal was used to it just being her father, mother and sometimes the rest of the fellow Avengers if they were available.

Tony looked down at his cellphone just as it beeped:

"Our diva is with the spider. Currently buying all the presents she asked for with the list." -C.B

Tony sent him a reply, fingers whisking away on the small screen:

"Preparing the party room. Have spider keep diva distracted for another hour or two. " -T.S

"I'll try," -C.B

Tony clicked the flap of the phone closed, sticking it in his pocket as he shouted more instructions out to Pepper about how the party was supposed to go, and telling her where to put the decorations, what colors looked good with what, etc etc. This was going to be an amazing party, and absolutely **NOTHING** was going to ruin it.

* * *

Their children meanwhile thought it would be a great idea to turn out all the lights, find hiding spots. Annabelle was laughing; she told them it would be hilarious to spook the crap out of Krystal when she came walking inside. The other children, though they liked the idea of a big surprise turned down Annabelle's idea of freaking Krystal out.

"Awwwww," Annabelle sulked, wearing her father's pout.

"Sorry Anna," Said Jasmine. "But Krystal will end up hating us for life if we freaked her out that bad on her birthday, though it is a funny prank,"

"Indeed," Matt nodded.

"Although you are into pranks," CJ agreed, (someone hangs around Loki too much, for he is very proper in his speaking) "I do not want to have my friends mad at me for it, so I don't think that's a good idea."

"Party poopers…" Annabelle muttered under her breath, folding her arms like an angry teenager though she was only eight years old.

"Alright everyone, I just received another text" Tony shouted after they were finished with the decorating, "find your hiding places; and lights out!"


End file.
